Repeat, moving as fast as possible. You should maintain a fast pace for this exercise. Strive for maximum height with each jump. Most athletes will average between 12 and 15 repetitions per 30 seconds.

In a squat thrust you just stand up at the end of each rep. In this version you explode upwards from the squat position. Probably not something folks should try to do until they have a basic level of fitness in place.

Dana,
Great drill to build explosive power in the legs.
Frog hops are also good.
I have this nasty one we do now and then where you stay seated on your heels with bent knees and walk out one leg at a time. A real thigh screamer.

Did you see any leg development drills while in Okinawa? I can't recall any which would be surprising.

The truth is I look for new stuff to do because I get bored. And right now I'm trying to figure out how to put plyometric training into what we do but also have something that folks who aren't ready for something as full on as a burpee can also do a modified version of.

As for legs the only "leg strength drill" I particularly remember is seeing Narahiro Shinjo do his "horse stance stepping while holding and lifting up kamae jars" routine. Though I would probably leave off the gnashing and grinding of the teeth.

Unfortunately we didn't get to see many of what the Goju world calls hojo-undo or "supplementary exercises."

I did note that at some dojo the younger folks (those under 30) performed their kata with very deep stances and the not as young folks at the same dojo performed them with higher stances.

Kiyohide Shinjo put us through our paces with jar work using sanchin stepping which is a full body workout when you're on training session three at 9pm at night.

But much of what I remember is basically what I would call an obession with explosiveness. Each and every time someone threw a kick and at some dojo when they stepped into the lower stances (except the forward leaning elbow) it seemed like everyone I saw was trying to do that as explosively as they possibly could each and every time they did it.

So on my list of things to ask about the next time I visit Okinawa is what else do you do besides junbi-undo, hojo-undo, kotekitai, kata, pre-arranged kumite, and jiyu-kumite.

I'm hopeful the list will include:
different stuff you do on the Makiwara
different ways to make your body hard (kicking poles, hitting each other, etc)

or maybe what I should do is ask them what they do if a student has a deficiency is some area or another...that would probably be better.

How do you help a student with weak legs?
How do you help a student who doesn't explode well on their strikes?
How do you help a student who isn't progressing well in conditioning?
How do you help a student who is weak in kumite?

I know that answers I've been given for these concerns but I'd love to see what sorts of things the instructors over there would pull out of their bag of tricks.

Dana what are you trying to do? Give Bill more ways to torture us in the fire dragon test this summer.

No, that is my job.

Dana: If you ever get down this way I'll let you take a look at my combat conditioning manual. It is full of fun things to do.

On a different subject, we will be having a self defense class in lieu of the regular karate class on March 18. It will be open to the entire gym membership. I am still looking for a volunteer to demo a chemical spray on. Any intertest? Your choice of LEO grade OC or a nice over the counter civilian blend of OC and tear gas. I assure you it will be a day to remember. However, you would need to bring a friend to drive you back home.

Dana,
I'm sure the average Okinawans legs are stronger than an Americans due to the fact that they may use legless chairs and sleep on the ground.
If this is still the custom and they haven't westernized.

Other leg exercises I do, all which come from Judo where the leg is so necessary in the beginning explosion of a throw are:

Stepping way out forward with one leg and touching the opposite knee to the ground, repeat.....
Kneeling down and touching the floor and exploding back up. (similiar to frog hops)
Have a person kneel and the other person holds their belt and lapel, they then try to jump away.
This could also be done having someone resist someone trying to enter an elbow strike.

Dana, I'm sure the average Okinawans legs are stronger than an Americans due to the fact that they may use legless chairs and sleep on the ground. If this is still the custom and they haven't westernized.

Are you serious Fred ? , or are Americans in worse shape than I thought ?

maybe better mobility but stronger ?

I`d say the average larger American should be stronger in every regard .

But it depends on your definition of strength , holding a pose etc , may be easier for smaller folks , and maybe okinawans are taller than the japanese I`ve met , though i find it hard to beleive there close to the 6 foot 5 tenagers you see walking around these days .

If they are getting up from ground level repeatedly all day and I am rising from a chair or couch it would seem reasonable to me that their legs would have a strength advantage. Course the same is also true for someone living in mountainous terrain.
But are their legs stronger than Lance Armstrong? No. I think that Apollo speed skater also has them beat.
One of the things I notice in looking at photos of old judo masters is they have some seriously strong looking calf muscles. Gotta explain it somehow, Lifting just came into play in Judo in the 60's.

So I introduced this in class last night and offered the following 4 levels.
1) Moutain climbing (hands on the ground, alternate pumping one leg back and one leg to the chest)
2) Squat Thrusts - stand, drop, kick out, kick up, stand
3) Burpee - stand, drop, kick out, kick up, jump up from the squat (several folks who have more height than I do loosened up the ceiling tiles a bit)
4) Uber Burpee - the variation on the website where you drop into pushup position as you go down and do a pushup as you kick back up to the squat.

And the good news? - everybody was able to do something every round. Everyone tried starting off a the burpee - but a couple of folks quickly found out that their fitness level needed to stay a squat thrust. And by the end a couple of people had dropped into the mountain climbing.

I think it very important to note that this isn't the kind of thing you do at the start of an adult class - folks who are over 20 need to be fairly well warmed up before this drill so as not to pull calf and hamstring muscles.

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